This past weekend, James Logan High School hosted a Joint Concert at 7 pm featuring Amador Valley’s Wind Ensemble I. Both schools’ bands played a selection of pieces for a generous audience.
“We have three bands, and we’re all preparing festival sets right now. We go out and perform at these festivals, and we always do a concert for our parents. Three bands is a lot for one concert, and so a few years ago, I started just looking for other bands that were willing to come here and share a concert. I reached out to Amador Valley years ago, and we finally were able to make it happen tonight,” said James Logan Band Director Dr. Adam Wilkie.
James Logan Wind Symphony played La Forza Del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi (arrangement by M.L. Lake and H.R. Kent), Imagine, If You Will by Timothy Mahr, and Clutch by Andrew David Perkins.
“We played the La Forza del Destino, which is ‘the force of destiny’, and that’s an opera by Giuseppe Verdi from the early eighteen hundreds. We played the overture. It’s a very famous, classical piece. It’s actually an orchestra transcription that we played. That’s the kind of thing that you would see if you went and saw the San Francisco Symphony; any of the major orchestras would play that,” stated Wilkie.
In addition, Amador Valley’s Wind Ensemble I played March from Symphonic Metamorphosis by Paul Hindemith (transcribed by Keith Wilson) and The Frozen Cathedral by John Mackey.
“There’s a great audience. We played the Frozen Cathedral and March from Symphonic Metamorphosis. There was a really great venue, really great audience; the stage was really pretty. The audience is really great, really enthusiastic, really supportive,” said Amador Valley Wind I flutist Dalbert Wu (‘27).
The audience’s experience listening to both schools’ performances was as great as the performers.
“Watching both performances, I can really tell that these people put a lot of their time and a lot of their effort into it during the rehearsals and also in their own independent practice hours. I really enjoyed both groups very much,” stated James Logan audience member Ziggy Santos (‘26).
Overall, the joint concert held by James Logan High School was a great success for both schools.
“Amador Valley is a great band, and it was really really fun to share the stage with them,” said Wilkie.
